


After

by Mavi98



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Gen, Post Giant War, angst with a happy ending - kinda, dealing with tartarus, not graphic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-14 05:41:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,195
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29413551
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mavi98/pseuds/Mavi98
Summary: A look into Percy and Annabeth after the giant war and the trauma of going through hell - and Nico helping them at the end
Kudos: 14





	After

**Author's Note:**

> Um hello, this just got stuck in my head and wouldn't leave until I wrote it down. Not beta'd so sorry for any mistakes and run-on sentences, I just wrote it and left it as it was.
> 
> Enjoy!

Percy likes to pretend he’s okay.

He went on with life, he visited his mom, who first started laughing, that relieved “oh my god” laugh and the “ _I can’t believe you’re here_ ” which slowly morphed into broken sobs and crushing hugs, Sally cried and cried and then cried some more. She didn’t let him leave the house for 2 days, until eventually he had to go back to camp to deal with the after of the war.

He did typical camp things, he went to counselor meetings, he helped with the reconstruction of damaged places from the war, and he started teaching classes, sword fighting and swimming. He ate lunch and dinner in the pavilion with everyone else. He smiled at the campers who came up to him and told him how grateful they were of his actions.

He kept going.

But he could feel it, the darkness, the sadness, _the fear_. It was all creeping underneath his skin, like a wave rolling around inside him, always present, always _there_. He tried to ignore it, at least during the day, where he had to be Percy, the Son of Poseidon, part of the seven and Hero of Olympus, savior of the world, survivor, friend, inspiration, person to look up to, and everyone’s friend.

Things were different at night.

He couldn’t ignore it then. The darkness in his room was pressing. The silence overwhelming. The first night he spent back in his cabin alone, he didn’t sleep at all. He felt watched and for a moment he actually uncapped riptide because he thought there was a monster in his room. He felt like he was hallucinating, the figures in the darkness morphed to look like places and things from _down there_ and Percy felt like he could scream. He eventually gave up and turned on the lights but even then he didn’t feel right. It wasn’t until hours later when he went out to get some air that he actually felt himself relax. The moment he stepped foot outside his cabin, he released a breath he didn’t know he was holding and looked up, when he saw the stars above, he felt like he could cry.

There was no sky when he was down.

He walked to the pier and laid down, his feet grazing the water and the rest on his body resting on the wood, he looked at the stars until they started to disappear and the sun took their place, he stayed there for a while later until he could hear the early risers, campers, start to move around. He went back to his cabin, changed clothes, and went on with his day as if nothing happened.

The moment he saw Annabeth he knew.

They only met in the evening, they both had things to do throughout the day, and by the time Percy met her outside of the pavilion he felt like he was fading. The second he saw her walking towards him, he knew. He knew she felt it too, she probably also didn’t sleep if the bags under her eyes were anything to go by, it made sense, they both experienced probably the worlds worst nightmare and somehow came out of it alive, but with so many scars. More mental than physical.

* * *

Annabeth was ready to explode.

She felt like a ticking time bomb, ready to be set off at any minute.

It was all just _too much_.

She felt suffocated by the other campers, her friends, her siblings, everyone was treating her differently. And it was fine, she knew why it was happening and it made sense, but it still made her want to rip everyone’s heads off. She was just angry all the time. And since she knew no one was doing it on purpose, she shoved that anger deep down and focused on not screaming at everyone, which meant that she was quiet most of the time… she was sure that if she opened her mouth she would yell at the world and never stop.

And it was so different, Annabeth had been a part of camp Half-Blood longer than most which meant that mostly everyone knew her pretty well and/or had heard of her and all of her amazing adventures.

This new quiet and reserved Annabeth was unnerving.

She had never been particularly loud or anything, but she had always been opinionated and smart and never afraid to share her ideas and opinions, not even as a tiny seven year-old who had just lost her best friend. It was always expected to hear her chiming in on a conversation about the happenings going on at camp, specially about it’s construction and management, or to hear her giving advice to the younger campers, telling them about the in’s and out’s of being a half-blood.

Her friends mostly gave her space, they had all been through things that they needed to work through on their own, and although they got together when they could (it was hard with everyone going between the two camps and working on rebuilding and fixing everything), it was not quite the same as before. Her siblings did what had usually always worked before when Annabeth was stressed or dealing with particularly difficult things: gave her work to do. They knew she wasn’t one for sitting idle and just hanging out, she was a person that thrived when busy so, they gave her busy.

For a while it seemed to work, she would accept whatever they gave her and get to work, she would spend hours helping rebuild, designing new spaces that they now had the chance to use, communicating with others, organizing with the other counselors and camp Jupiter, helping the younger campers, arranging the schedules so that classes wouldn’t clash, working with Chiron on any loose ends leftover from the fight, and more. And if she was a little quieter, not as forward as she usually was, it was fine. She was still moving and everyone knew what she had gone through so they said nothing.

She was ready to explode.

The only time when she didn’t feel like livewire ready to burst was when she was with Percy.

Percy, the only person that could make her feel safe and wanted and loved. The one that had always been there, her true rock through everything. The person with which she had gone through literal _hell_ with. It was as if the moment she laid eyes on him the world righted itself and she could breathe again, at least for a while.

* * *

At first they didn’t acknowledge it, they just met up in the evenings, after curfew where there was practically no one around, and went to the beach. They sat on the sand, or on the pier, and just held each other. Sometimes they would talk about nonsensical things, random thoughts that they had, small things that had happened during the day, or memories from their many years together, but never anything particularly deep or emotional. Mostly they just sat or lay together and looked at the stars in silence.

Usually one of them would fall asleep, comforted by the slight breeze and the feel of the other in their arms, secure in the knowledge that the other was there to protect them and hold them and just _be there._

They didn’t talk about _it_ , not yet.

They just got up when the first rays of the sun would start to appear and dust themselves off and go back to their cabins after a last lingering embrace that would hold them together until they met again the next evening.

They knew they had to talk, at some point, but it was still too soon, the wounds to fresh to re-open them again and deal with everything and face the monsters they were desperately hiding.

They would do it, at some point, but not now.

For now they just looked at the stars.

* * *

Things changed when Nico showed up around a month after the final battle.

Percy knew he stayed at camp for a few days after the war, but then he apparently went to the Underworld for his dad, and although he frequently came back to camp, Percy didn’t see much of him. Probably for some residual awkwardness over their last encounter. Finding out that the kid you thought of as a little brother had a crush on you for years was a bit strange, and besides, Percy never knew how to get Nico to understand that it was okay, and that it didn’t really change things for Percy.

He knew Nico was avoiding him, and he was okay with giving him whatever time he needed, Percy thought it would be a long while, which is why he was surprised when Nico appeared next to him on the beach as he was waiting for Annabeth and sat down with him.

Percy looked at him for a moment, noting how healthier Nico looked, he didn’t exactly look _healthy_ per say, definitely not up to his 100%, but he was much better than how he was at the end of the war.

It was nice to see, he was beginning to fill out as a result of a more constant diet, his hair was a bit longer and there was actual color on his cheeks, a far cry from the almost translucent boy that had traveled half the world with a statue.

After a moment of silence, Percy realized Nico didn’t really look like he had any intention of starting a conversation, so Percy, in his usual blabbering manner, began.

“Hey Nico, it’s nice to see you” He looked back to the water and forced himself to give Nico a moment to gather his thoughts, a while back he would have carried the conversation by himself, he didn’t want to take credit though, it was Annabeth who had explained to him that sometimes people needed a little time to decide which words to use and that silence didn’t mean that someone had nothing to say.

“Hey” Nico started, his voice tentative and surprisingly deeper than how Percy remembered it. He paused for a second and started fidgeting with his skull ring before continuing “ It’s uh -nice to see you too” He finished.

“I heard you’ve been in camp a lot” Percy mentioned, “I’m glad you're spending more time here.”

“Yeah” Nico said, slightly blushing as he looked towards the water as if deep in thought before letting out what Percy thought was a little laugh “Only took me a few years.”

Percy chuckled too, and then they fell into a comfortable silence. It was nice, and Percy couldn’t help but marvel at the fact that Nico had _just made a joke_... to Percy, it was nice to see how far they’d come.

They stayed there; listening to the waves and distant voices of other campers, until Nico gently cleared his throat.

“You know-“ He paused, grimacing as he searched for the appropriate words to use, “I get nightmares, uh, a lot” He shook his head and resolutely stared at the sea.

Percy felt… devastated, here was Nico, a kid who had gone through more than most of them and gone through most of it alone. A kid he had personally failed when he got his sister killed, and who had still showed up to help them and quite literally turned the tide in both wars even though no one had done much for him, even though they had failed in making him feel welcome and part of the weird dysfunctional demigod family that was camp Half-Blood.

Percy felt sick thinking of this kid going through…. going through… _that_ place, alone. If he hadn’t had Annabeth with him he is sure he would have died, absolutely no question in his mind he would not have made it without her, so having Nico there, sitting next to him, alive after everything and admitting to having nightmares about it absolutely broke his heart.

He did the only thing he could and started saying – “Nico… I’m so sorry, I- gods, I can’t even imagine what it must have been like for you, I mean, I know what it’s like obviously but it… it uhh going through that alone and not thinking that someone out there would care what happened – which obviously we would, I mean, you know that right, now? You know we care, so much, all of us, I mean Jason threatens me all the time to make sure I don’t make you uncomfortable or anything, and everyone knows Reyna would kill anyone that looked at you funny, and me and Wise Girl think of you as family, and I- gods I’m just so sorry, whatever I can -”

“Percy, what, stop!” Nico turned to him and frowned at the verbal vomit that he had just heard, “That’s not, ugh, that’s not what I mean” He took a deep breath and looked into Percy’s eyes to make sure he understood what he was saying “I know that, I – I know I have a place here, trust me multiple people have made that pretty clear” He huffed “You have nothing to be sorry for, it’s not like you pushed me or anything so…” He cleared his throat in an attempt to regain composure and avoid saying more shit like what had just come out of his mouth, this was going so much worse than he imagine it would, “I was just trying to say that, I have nightmares, and… and bad thoughts and some days just suck and I feel like I will never get up again” He blew out a sigh “And I know you get them too and probably feel similar except maybe worse because I know you take everyone’s pain and make it your own.”

Nico stopped for a second to gather himself and left that statement hang between them for a bit, knowing that Percy needed to really listen to him and understand what he was getting at.

Percy on the other hand was struggling to make sense of things, for one, this was the most amount of words that Nico had ever said to him in one sitting ever, and on the other hand, he didn’t really want to admit what was being said as being the truth.

“I get help,” Nico blurted out after a couple of uncomfortable minutes in which he didn’t know how to continue on, “Um, some people- an annoying doctor- made me see that I couldn’t do it alone and so, I get help” He stated, “And I know you don’t- you’re not talking to anyone, maybe only Annabeth, and that’s fine and all but it’s probably not enough and there are people to deal with these things and help us, so what I’m saying is, you need that, you need help, both of you” Nico seemed to deflate after getting all that out there.

“Um” Percy very eloquently said, he definitely did not see the conversation going in this direction and he was having trouble processing what was happening, some part of him thought that maybe he should be getting mad, but he was just so tired and didn’t really have the energy to muster those feelings so he just floundered for something to say, “I don’t, um, I’m fine, I don’t need to take up someone’s time or anything, I mean- I’m sure there are plenty of people who could use um that help more than me.”

“Right” Nico huffed annoyed, Percy truly was a self-sacrificing idiot, “So if Annabeth came to you and told you that she needed counseling and someone to help her come to terms and deal with what she went through, would you tell her there are others who probably need it more?” He raised an eyebrow at the son of Poseidon who now looked affronted.

“Of course not, that’s ridiculous, I would ne-”

“And did you not go through the same together?” Nico interrupted.

“Well yes, but it’s different, It’s not-”

“Different how?” Nico interrupted yet again, even though Percy was starting to look more awake and annoyed “Of course you experienced things differently, but the circumstances where the same and I just don’t understand how you can accept that others can get help and benefit from it but not you” He paused for a second, “If you need someone to say it, fine, here it is: Percy, you _deserve_ help, okay? You have as much right to have others looking out for you as anyone else here, hell, maybe even more after everything you’ve done, and I know that you are used to being the one giving help rather than receiving it but it doesn’t have to be that way. It’s okay, it doesn’t make you weak or whatever bullshit thing you’re thinking. All of us have gone through horrible things and _We. All. Need. Help._ ” He accentuated the last part, stabbing a finger in Percy’s chest after every word to make a point.

The silence stretched between them, Nico could see Percy gaping and looking like he was going to say something just to close his mouth and shake his head. It was clear that he had gotten though to Percy to some degree, the emotions swimming in his now damp eyes was a testament to that, and after a while Nico turned back towards the sea to give Percy some time to get himself together.

Nico got lost within the sounds of the ocean, he never particularly spent a lot of time being near the sea, almost certain that Poseidon would not take lightly to him entering his territory, but he had to admit that there was a calming essence to the sounds of the waves crashing into the shoreline and the occasional splashes made by whatever creatures were nearby.

It was sometime later that a quiet voice interrupted his musings.

“I don’t think I’m ready to talk about it.”

Nico resisted turning to Percy and instead replied towards the sea “That’s completely fine, you don’t have to yet, I just waned to make sure you knew that the option was there, for whenever you want to take it.”

“Um- thanks Nico” Percy replied, still a little awkward with the whole situation.

“No problem” Nico finally turned to Percy and smiled slightly “I mean- you would do the same for me.”

Percy scoffed and cracked a small smile “Yeah, I guess I would.”

And with that the mood had shifted, they both knew the hard topic was over and that there wasn’t more to the conversation. They stayed like that, two teenagers just sitting on the beach, until Annabeth joined them. She didn’t say anything to Nico’s presence, merely smiled at him and took her place on Percy’s other side where he promptly put his arm around her and tugged her close.

And things were not fine, nor would they be for quite some time but, well, it was easy to forget about all the terrors in the world when you were sitting on a beach with your family, listening to the ocean and looking at the stars.

**Author's Note:**

> lmk if I should add to this or just leave it as a one-shot, idk, thanks for reading!


End file.
